Bingo was so-so, but enough to get me thinking about a Sunday excursion. And yes, I’m saving up for a sewing machine. Turns out Fred’s contact had only commercial grade equipment, like sergers, which means I’m back to looking. Bingo hits the doldrums every year in the late March to early July stretch so don’t let me act so surprised. It’s just that the odd week can be remarkable and I like to hope. Everybody should do some food shopping even if it isn’t their chore. I like to gloat how accurately I predicted the price rises. The “basket of goods” the government uses to calculate inflation is bogus because it does not include things that unmarried people (the majority) buy. Focus on food, gasoline, electricity. Why? Because these items are interrelated. It requires gasoline and electricity to grow, transport, and store that food.
The victuals on your dinner plate came from an average 1,500 miles away. Most of it by truck and some of it frozen. Unless you eat in a restaurant, your seafood isn’t from the nearby ocean, your asparagus is likely from California where they grow rice in the friggin desert despite chronic water shortages every summer. And in my famous statement 30 years ago, “Canadian taxes make food so cheap a lot of people can barely afford it.”
Your butterball turkey is $24. A small roast is $18. I’m saying, tag along for a shop some day soon to get a feel of what you are in for come retirement. Food inflation is phenomenal and it will get worse. Oh, and planting a garden is a lot more work than you think, even for those few who still know how. Too much work for seniors, really. Me personally, well, my income just went up 26%, neener, neener.
Speaking of inept government, have you seen the new voter registration form? Well, I don’t know if it is new, but it is the first time I’ve read it. Basically, the government must feel people don’t think enough files are being kept, as it asks the registrant if they are a convicted felon. That means they cannot vote, but it doesn’t stop the government from trying to trick them into registering. Duh. I wonder if any criminals really get fooled by that. I mean, I know the jails aren’t exactly full of Lex Luthor types, but still, I wonder.
One thing you don’t need to think about is privacy. It is weird how many people out there aren’t concerned. Hey, people, quit fooling yourself, it is the government that is trying to restrict Internet privacy. The whole concept of electronic privacy is to restrict the government, so quit pretending it is some hacker after your identity.
The US government tried to put Zimmerman, the guy who invented PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) in jail, and only relented when they realized that would be tantamount to admitting they were already spying on their own citizens, which is illegal. They should stick to spying on the ones dumb enough to support “voter registration”.
I will say it once again. Even if you have nothing to hide, only an idiot gives up his right to do so. Even if you are a saint, you don’t know what laws will be in effect tomorrow. They used to say, be careful what you tell Caesar, for God himself cannot change the past.
I also predict that now that the government has amassed so much information on people, we will begin to see new laws enacted which begin to restrict activity based on that once innocent “census” information, like nothing you’ve seen before. You just watch, and tough luck because you willingly gave them the data. If all this is too hard to think about, go buy yourself a butterball—and take your credit card.
At noon I swung by Dave-O’s to check in, he has finally returned to a normal color from that yellow-orange condition he had. His Jeep was parked for the last couple months since he can’t afford gas, and somebody tried to steal it. A pro job, too. Through the driver’s door lock, peeled off the ignition cover, but then must have got scared off. Didn’t check the other doors were unlocked and there were expensive tools in the box.
He’s getting his settlement in the next ten days, looks like around four times what he was expecting. The piece of rebar pierced his upper arm just beside the collar bone (he’s a union ironworker) and clipped the bones. It was the big size rebar, I think they call it number 16 but it is known as “horsecock”. He can use both hands again but I swear it was the mess of drugs they put him on that gave him that jaundice.
He does not cook, nor does his place have any provisions to cook. He has a microwave, that’s it. I had three squares to day, including kingfish steak and fries. Dave-O had beef jerky. Despite that, he has a weak system in that hot food has to be hot and cold food has to be cold. Like if you make soup and put the extra in the fridge, then heat it up again, his tract can’t take it. Even letting things cool on the stove makes him woozy.
I downloaded the list of tunes from Staci (same as Staci-O), and it is giving me second thoughts. Allow me spell out things that must be agreed on before I commit, because they seem to have been forgotten. Again. One, I need somebody with extensive experience as we will be playing only country classics until we are up and performing. Two, this requires six hours per week, tapering off once we begin playing out. Three, I expect nothing less than constant improvement until the first few gigs are done.
The reason it is classics is so that nobody has to learn new and unfamiliar music during the formative process. When you truthfully have experience, this does not pose a limitation. And importantly, although it has often been said, it goes without saying that not every tune can be adapted to a two-piece band. That tends to rule out the current country hit-parade, with its generic over-orchestrated content.
On her list was “455 Rocket”. It has tempo, but comes across as draggy filler music. It was released in 1997 meaning it is not a classic. It is a tune I do not know and that does not spring to mind when somebody says “country”. Staci has not polished up the tunes we’ve already selected, still using crib notes on stage after a month. She may feel otherwise, but she has not begun to put in the required hours.
This is not a fault, but a strange effect of joining up with an existing band. All the hard work has been done and the other musicians are accommodating. This gives the newcomer the impression they have aced the show. Guitarists dream of the gig where they can plug in and play hero, constantly seeking working situations because the rest is easy. But that is not to be confused with playing in a band. When Staci lost the copies I took time to make for her, she did not lift a finger to replace them on her own.
Most of the music she suggested does not obey the rules. She has either forgotten, not learned, or begun to ignore what we agreed upon. Possibly this is sub-conscious, as I’ve noticed a lot of Florida musicians will say yes to anything, thinking once you commit more than they do (such as a 26 mile round trip to rehearsal), they can now press their personal agenda because you can’t quit without having wasted a lot of time. Worse, because they have not analyzed their behavior through to these basics, they can deny everything.
I’ve seen all this before.
